Ever Westwards and "interesting" weather
Cat-man-do
Sat 8 Dec 2007 11:50
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Hello all,
We are now well past the 1000 miles to go point and
slowly but surely ticking off the miles as we go.It's Howards birthday today and
as a treat we've had a rather nice cooked breakfast, when Howard opened his
cards and presents from home.
We are under much reduced sail due to the weather
in the area, with lots of squalls and associated very high winds. There are
reports of several boats having broken booms (the bar thing that sticks out from
the mast that the bottom of the main sail attaches to) Also reports on one boat
of a crew member with several broken ribs who's now confined to his bunk for the
rest of the trip.
After breakfast, Howard was sat on the helm,
reading his book when the winds died down, shortly followed by a shift of
direction and increase in speed and the sea became a heaving mass of large
white frothy waves around the boat. Then there was a few drops of rain...to
start. Then the heavens opened, a real, proper tropical rainstorm. I went on
deck to make the sail smaller still, and was instantly drenched to the skin,
you'd have thought someone had quite literally poured a bucket of water over me.
So, there was only one thing for it, grab the shower gel, strip off and have the
best shower so far of the trip. It has to be said it's a wonderful
experience and does make you feel somehow alive (and the rain's not that cold) I
thoroughly recommend it! Robert quickly decided to follow my shining
example closely followed by Howard. Of course, being Howards birthday, as
soon as he'd got "lathered up" the rain stopped!! The seas are still pretty
confused with some pretty big swells but for now the wind's died down a little
and we're making steady if not exciting progress at about 7 knots.
As I type this, I look around and there's no one
awake except me. As good a time as any to day dream about those solo ocean
crossings I guess..........
To be continued
It's now just coming up to 3 in the morning,
and tonight's been an "exciting ride" so far. About 9 last night the winds
started getting higher and by about 1 ish had really set in. You go through some
periods of fairly steady winds and no rain, then the winds die down and it
all goes quiet, you just know it's coming, and it does. We've had wind speeds in
excess of 35 knots apparent (what the boat feels taking into account the
speed/direction you're doing at the time) tonight, in absolutely driving
rain. There's no moon either to talk of, so visibility in the squalls is
virtually non existent. That's until the lightning starts. Several
times we've been bounding along at about 8 knots or so, surfing
down some reasonable size waves, where you might have well had your eyes closed,
except for the fact we were surrounded by lightning on all sides which then lit
up the whole scene momentarily like in some sort movie (you know the sort I
mean !!) All very exciting stuff.
From what we can tell, we're still gradually
increasing our lead over those rascals on Rebel T, though in this case it's very
much a case of "not the winning" They rang us again this evening for a chat and
to see we were ok. I get the feeling St Lucia's gonna be one hell of a
party.........
I went to bed thinking it would have abated a
little by the time I woke up,.........wrong. I've seen pictures in books where
the wind speed is such that it's ripping the water from the tops of the waves
and throwing it sideways in a sort on Supercharged mist. I'd often wondered what
it would be like to experience it, Now I know. Still Torrential rain and with a
sail the size of a Supermodels knickers,and we're surfing at up to 18 knots. You
may have noticed that we're heading slightly further South than intended, Due
simply to the fact the storm is pushing us that way. Hopefully we should get
some easing in the next few hours or so and be able to get more back on
course.
Fear not good reader, we are all safe and well. As
for me I'm LOVING it. Bring it on........
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